Highly Efficient Proteolysis Accelerated by Electromagnetic Waves for Peptide Mapping

• Published in: Current genomics Vol. 12; no. 6; pp. 380 - 390
• Main Authors: Chen, Qiwen, Liu, Ting, Chen, Gang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United Arab Emirates Bentham Science Publishers Ltd 01.09.2011; Bentham Science Publishers
• Subjects: Protease; Proteolysis; Peptide mapping; Electromagnetic waves; Proteomics
• ISSN: 1389-2029; 1875-5488; 1875-5488
• DOI: 10.2174/138920211797248583

Proteomics will contribute greatly to the understanding of gene functions in the post-genomic era. In proteome research, protein digestion is a key procedure prior to mass spectrometry identification. During the past decade, a variety of electromagnetic waves have been employed to accelerate proteolysis. This review focuses on the recent advances and the key strategies of these novel proteolysis approaches for digesting and identifying proteins. The subjects covered include microwave-accelerated protein digestion, infrared-assisted proteolysis, ultraviolet-enhanced protein digestion, laser-assisted proteolysis, and future prospects. It is expected that these novel proteolysis strategies accelerated by various electromagnetic waves will become powerful tools in proteome research and will find wide applications in high throughput protein digestion and identification.